The MINSA, through the SILAIS of the RAAN and Movicáncer-Nicaragua, developed the Third Nicaraguan Course on Management of Cancer Control Programs for Women with the technical and financial support of the AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation).
More than 25 professionals between Doctors and Nurses, Cytotechnologists, all responsible for the Cancer Control program at different levels and from all municipalities, were trained for a week in the Management of the program and management of the Surveillance System for the Prevention of Gynecological Cancer .
This unprecedented course in the RAAN had the purpose of strengthening the managerial capacities of health managers in order to improve the quality of the MINSA strategy in taking Pap smears, the main screening method for early cancer detection. of the cervix, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and early detection of breast abnormalities that allow women early access to treatment in order to contribute to the reduction of mortality from these causes.
“The population of the RAAN, historically, has had little access to reproductive health services and to access treatment for pre-malignant lesions before they had to travel to Managua,” said Dr. Lucía Lira León, director of this SILAIS, ” however, since 2008 local capacities have been improved both in the development of human talent and in equipment, in order to offer early cancer treatment at the Hospital Nuevo Amanecer itself, since the reduction of cervical and breast cancer it is a priority of MINSA after maternal and infant mortality”, he pointed out.
In order to deepen the Family and Community Health Model (MOSAFC), efforts have been made with the purpose of supporting women in order to access chemotherapy in the Capital City; however, the purpose goes beyond detecting cancer when it is already developed, it is about detecting it when it is in an early “pre-malignant” phase, which is where it is possible to treat this disease, successfully at the local level, without stopping Therefore, the woman has to leave her home and children for a long time.
For this purpose, SILAIS has organized this December 4 and 5 a “Day for Women’s Health” in the city of Waspam in order to treat with Cryotherapy (local surgery) twenty women with pre-malignant lesions and from communities of difficult access, a day that will be organized during the remainder of this year and the beginning of the next in all the municipalities of the RAAN. Dr. Lira announced.
Dr. Juan Almendarez Peralta, coordinator of the course, director of Movicáncer and professor at the UNAN-León School of Public Health, commented on the importance of the course as follows: “This course is a milestone for MINSA, because until now we have not Sufficient attention had been given to the issue of Cancer Control and to the improvement of the management skills of doctors and nurses who direct cancer control programs in health units, from where direct care is provided to the population.”
In Nicaragua, one in eight deaths is due to cancer; in other words, every day Cancer takes the lives of 13 people, whether men, women, boys, girls or adolescents; and cervical cancer is the first cause of death among Nicaraguan women, therefore, at Movicáncer we are pleased to contribute to the strengthening of MINSA and the community, in order to support the reduction of this type of cancer. “With the implementation of SIVIPCAN in the RAAN, there are already three SILAIS where this type of active surveillance exists and works with the purpose of reducing mortality from cervical and breast cancer, and in the next year it is planned to implement it in other SILAIS of the republic under the direction of MINSA”, pointed out Dr. Almendarez.
On the other hand, Lic. Orlando B. Martínez Granera, announced that with this course the Cancer Prevention Surveillance System known by its acronym in Spanish, SIVIPCAN, a computer tool designed between Movicáncer in cooperation with the Central American University, was successfully implemented. (UCA) being awarded by the American Cancer Society as Latin Excellence in 2008. “In the entire Central American and Caribbean region, there is no similar program that focuses on surveillance for the prevention and early care of pre-malignant lesions in women aimed at reducing mortality” concluded Mr. Martínez Granera.
